Inferno: Since you've been gone
by Starscream's Mishap
Summary: My first slash piece, connected to a few other pieces I wrote, but I think it stands alone if you've seen The Search for Alpha Trion and Autobeserk. Inferno figures out who means more to him: Firestar or Red Alert.


It was high time the female Autobots left earth for Cybertron, as Brawn so eloquently put it. He was also lying in a mud puddle, hollering that the ground troops could not hold out much longer. The departing Autobots poured into the area around the space bridge, hurrying with their farewells to the mechs on a planet they had spent almost a year living. Most of this procedure was a blur Inferno could barely comprehend. The shooting, the screaming, the voice of Optimus Prime shouting orders over chaos...all screeching in the background as Autobots tried to give one last embrace to their loved ones before the space bridge took them away.

Inferno could see over Firestar's head an openly weeping Ironhide and Chromia. That did not disturb him. Next to Ironhide Moonracer was shooting at her former best friend, an Autobot-turned-Decepticon, with a snarl of pure hatred. This was to be expected. Arcee, eager to begin her life on earth without the other female Autobots, was a strange site but not disturbing. Inferno felt his protege jerk away, running for the giant ring that would take her away from him. He knew that he would never see her again, and all he could feel was numbness. She was leaving. The Decepticons were flying overhead in a desperate attempt to shoot the passengers before the bridge sent them off, causing even more confusion. This scene was not jarring, either. The space bridge glowed and exploded, taking away a slew of Autobots, his friends. This did not move him.

The most spark-wrenching sight was Red Alert charging Megatron with fire in his bright blue eyes. Most of the Autobots were still recovering from the shock of losing their long-term associates when the enemy doubled it efforts to attack. Dust still flying in the air from the space bridge, Inferno realized that his best friend had been at the controls watching all of them say good-bye, wordlessly witnessing something that obviously did not sit well. Megatron's smarmy face triggered something ugly in him, causing the small white mech to run up to the evil leader before his usual leering commentary was complete.

"Sorry to interrupt your party, Pri-oof!" Poor Red didn't have a chance. Megatron peeled the Autobot off of his chest and threw him at Starscream, who tossed him back after shrieking like a girl; both laughing at Inferno's friend for trying to stand up to them and falling over. Inferno stood there, still mute. He was unafraid of death and fire but for some reason all of his limbs felt heavy. Optimus shut them both up by shooting them with his blaster. The Autobot leader's deadly accuracy crippled one of Starscream's wings and silenced the silver Decepticon before them.

"Pick on someone your own size, Megatron!"

Megatron was in no mood for inane heroics. "Some other time, Prime. Decepticons! Retreat!" They took to the air like a flock of buzzards, circling to get their last potshots before swooping out with a loud cackling. Inferno felt nothing. He still watched his friend.

"Red Alert? Are you all right?" Optimus Prime had beaten him to the punch, pulling the security commander up onto his feet. Inferno, revitalized, was not far behind.

"You okay, buddy?" His hand was out for him before he realized it. Red turned away, bristling at the offer.

"Too little too late, FRIEND." Optimus was calling for them to transform and roll out, leaving Inferno no time to talk with his furious comrade, who decided to ride up with Jazz and the Lamborghinis. The fire engine was not a fast enough driver for that crowd. Inferno thought about the scene that had just transpired in front of him. He had lost a great thing. Firestar was one of his best friends, the fighter he himself had trained. Together they saved the people of Cybertron in one daring rescue mission after another, gaining notoriety. She was closer to him than anyone, until...

* * *

"I want to join the female Autobots." 

Inferno put his gun away and glanced over at her. There she was, casually leaning against the doorframe of the repair bay, telling him something life changing in the same tone she used to tell him she'd just recharged his weapon for him. In agitation, Inferno had stood there, staring at her, until he was motivated to run over to the small red and yellow femme. When he got to her, he held his arms out and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her as hard as he could.

"WHAT?" His soft drawl was harsh with pain. They had been on a million missions together, forging a partnership that would transcend time and space. She had just punctured his dream of bonding with her and living the daring life of rescuers.

"Let go!" Firestar wrenched herself away from Inferno as violently as he had rattled her. Glaring, she informed her mentor that she had learned enough from him and wanted to live on her own. She was ready, and there was a faction ready and eager to have her aboard.

"With nothin' but FEMALE Autobots?" How could she not expect him to be hurt by this? Firestar shrugged.

"You'll adjust." She turned and walked out, leaving Inferno to watch her leave. "You always do."

* * *

Red Alert sat at a table all alone in the commissary. Life as the chief of security left him alone a great deal of the time. It hadn't been that irksome hiding in the dark holes of Cybertron the Autobot force had dwelled in, where you could spend ages alone, watching nothing. Now that he was down on earth with other Autobots he realized how empty his existence had been. There were a lot of established cliques here, none that Red Alert felt easy joining. It had been a long six months. 

"Is this seat taken?" A large red mech smiled at him. Who was this? It must be Inferno, who'd been a part of the army but not someone Red Alert really knew.

The smaller white Autobot jerked his head to the seat next to him. "I'm Red Alert."

"Ah know." Inferno sat down next to him, smile wide and sweet. Red Alert wondered why merely looking into the taller one's optics gave him such a warm feeling. Inferno wondered if Red Alert knew how to rescue someone.

* * *

Seeing her was a shock. Firestar had survived millions of years of deprivation, looking better than Inferno had ever imagined. They were on Cybertron bailing Optimus Prime out of a scary situation and the female Autobots had joined them, guns blazing. When he told her how much he missed their rescue missions, she seemed nostalgic as well, giving him hope. The Autobots left Cybertron with a pleasant taste in their mouths. 

It got even better when an errant Autobot returned to the fold with a means of communication linking Cybertron with Earth. The female Autobots came back for a long visit. Inferno spent every minute he could with his former protege. Red Alert often joined them, quiet while the two reminisced about good times and how happy they had been. One night she allowed Inferno to kiss her good night, on the forehead, while Red Alert stared at the ceiling and scowled.

"I think she might be coming around," the firefighter chirped. He slapped Red on the shoulder. "Maybe she has a cute friend for you."

Red Alert nodded quietly. Reticence was his forte, but looking as though his favorite monitor had just died was not. Inferno asked if something was wrong.

"Nothing. I was just remembering the day you saved me from that huge fire Starscream set." Inferno had braved death to rescue him. They had been casual friends before that, but after that they had been a lot closer.

"You're my best friend. I would never abandon you." This response caused Red Alert's face to fall lower. "What?"

"Nothing." Red Alert dropped Inferno off at his quarters and waved his friend off. "I'm tired. I will see you tomorrow."

But he didn't come past Inferno's room to join him on his way to the commissary the next morning, like he usually did. Later Inferno found him in his control office, so deep in work the firefighter hesitated to come in to talk to him. When he pulled himself away from the door he thought he heard Red Alert sigh but was not sure.

* * *

Inferno doubted his own memories as he drove back from the space bridge with the others. Firestar never told him she missed him. She had not shown any type of affection towards any mech, let alone her teacher. In fact, there seemed to be a distance between them that was not really reconciled before she left. Inferno couldn't think straight, he needed to talk to Red about it...but Red Alert was angry with him. 

"Hey Inferno." Ironhide drove slowly, his grief still shadowing him like the penumbra of a lunar eclipse. "How you holdin' up?"

"I'm doin' better than Ah thought." His accent always slurred more when he spoke with Ironhide. Just as it cleaned itself up around the crisper-speaking individuals. "How about you?"

"Ah bean better." His whole alt-mode drooped. "Ah didn't think Ah missed her 'til she leyft."

Why didn't Inferno feel that way about Firestar? It had been agonizing the first time she departed. The second time, he had been glad she was alive, but happier to come home. He'd assumed it was because he was relieved she wasn't dead. So why was he more upset over Red Alert's deep depression?

"Ah'm sorry, 'Hide. Ah know she meant a lot t'ya."

"Yer lucky, Inferno. Yours is still here."

His what? Inferno actually released his accelerator to process this. There must have been something wrong with his audios; Ironhide did NOT just say that. "Ah'm sorry?"

"Reyd Alert. He's still heer." Ironhide sniffed, pain overtaking him. "Ah'm sorry, excuse me." He slowed down even more to try to control himself, leaving a dumbfounded Inferno in his wake.

* * *

He loved Firestar. He had for their entire existence together.  
_But that's the key sentence right there_, he thought as he pulled into the ark. _We aren't together anymore_. 

_We haven't been in a long time_, he continued pondering as he transformed into robot mode. _She seemed perfectly happy having me as a friend._ That hurt. Rejection always did. The realization that he had cherished the image of another for so long after it had disintegrated, an image that was not based in reality, pained him even more.

Where his feet were taking him Inferno was not aware. All he could do was internally berate himself forever believing Firestar was more than what she was: his student. Her smiling face as she ran into the space bridge haunted him. She was GLAD to be going.

Now that the thought had been acknowledged, another face interrupted hers. In front of him in the hallway was Red Alert. _Was Ironhide right, Red?_ The very sight of his best friend terrified him. As he stood, paralyzed by a shocking revelation, Red turned a corner, never ceasing his conversation with Prowl. (Where did Prowl come from? Inferno hadn't even seen him.) Something kept the firefighter from moving.

* * *

Nighttime fell fast on this solar planet. Red Alert didn't like it. Light only gave way to shadows. The inconsistency allowed the enemy a place to hide. The darkness, broken only by the moon above, made him think of Inferno's white visage surrounded by his black helmet. 

With the full moon out and Ironhide moping about the compound, Red Alert decided to continue his quest of avoiding everyone by remaining in his room with a mug of energon and one of Sunstreaker's movies. "The Night of the Living Squirrels" looked like fun. Anything to take his mind off of his troubles, especially when the image of Firestar wrapped up in her mentor's powerful grip caused his solenoids to shudder. He had done a stupid thing and was mortified over it. What was he thinking, attacking Megatron head-on? It wouldn't stop the pain, it only made him look like a fool-

"Stop it!" he shouted to himself. "Inferno has made it abundantly clear in many ways he prefers the company of vacuous femme-loving Autobots!" Red Alert subscribed to the cult of If You Repeat It Out Loud, It Will Make Sense. He sat down on his recharge plate and pressed "play" on the screen on the wall, hoping nothing in the universe would interfere with the forgetting of his best friend, his love, his soulmate-

"STOP IT!" Red Alert threw his energon mug against the wall with a crash.

The door tapped tentatively. Could it be? Red Alert gazed at it for less than a second before he bounded over to it, opening it joyfully.

"Inf-oh. It's you."

"Yeah, it's me! Who did you think it was, Bumblebee?" Gears, his next door neighbor, could wake up to the tread of a spider. "Can you turn that thing down? I haven't had a decent night's sleep since those giggling femmebots first got here!"

"Sorry," Red Alert tried not to glance down the hall. Too late. No one was there, except for the grumbling Gears. Red Alert sighed and turned the television off, crawling into bed. "The Night of the Living Squirrels" just wasn't sufficient.

The next morning Red Alert dragged himself up for work, failing to revive from a sleepless night. Every time he was about to go offline the nasty image of Inferno hugging Firestar would visit him with a vengeance. He needed energon, but since he was still avoiding the outside world, going to the commissary was out of the question. He would have to perform without it. Besides, he was due for patrol in five minutes. Red Alert pocketed his gun in subspace and walked out the door. He was almost there when he passed Inferno's door.

"Red?" It was soft, like a plea. Red Alert wasn't sure he'd heard it, forcing him to back up and listen again. He REALLY hoped he hadn't been hearing things. It called his name again, louder.

"Inferno?" He was whispering too. Primus, this was strange.

Red Alert knocked on Inferno's door, energon pump pounding.

The door opened quickly, showing a bleary-eyed Inferno gesturing him to come in. Red Alert carefully entered, taking a seat as entreated on the only chair in the room. Silence reverberated as they both smiled at each other uncomfortably. Inferno cleared his throat.

"Red, buddy, I'm...Uh..that is..." Inferno looked everywhere but at his friend, waving his arms in some private exasperation. Even when frustrated, Inferno was beautiful. The white mech tried to focus.

Red Alert prided himself on noticing the subtle nuances of everyone. This time he was at a loss. For some reason, fear encompassed him like a cold vise. Thoughts, like racing ions, flashed a million possibilities of what was going to be said. The most prominent impulse was that Inferno wanted to leave here to be with the females. "Yes?"

"You almost got yourself killed yesterday."

"It was a mistake." He didn't know what else to say to him. "But it's all right, I can take care of myself."

_No, you can't._ Inferno thought, trying not to pace around the room. _That's why you have me._ It was nice to feel needed. Something Inferno had taken for granted for far too long. The fearless firefighter leaned onto one knee in front of the chief of security and stared at the white mech in the optics, face tilted down to Red's looking up. "I can't do this anymore," he drawled softly. It was a sweet sound.

Now Red Alert was VERY confused. "Can't do-mmmph!" Inferno had silenced him the only way he knew how, powerful arms tightening against the white mech as their faces met. Red Alert could not think, he could not see, all he knew was that the warmth he felt when he looked at his friend was now fanning into a fire, melting the cold loneliness he had felt for millions of years. "I'm dreaming," he murmured pitifully, red hands reaching for the plated metal, caressing it softly. It couldn't be real, perhaps the lack of recharge made him hallucinate.

Inferno scooped Red Alert up from his seat and carried him over to the recharge plate that dominated the room. "No. You're not."

* * *

They quietly lay next to each other, Red Alert under Inferno's arm, kissing occasionally, mostly just talking. Inferno could not remember what they discussed, since it had been reiterated and molded and spoken of so many different ways it was as though they held the same conversation with several codas. It boiled down to the discovery of a very deep affection and the regret of not realizing it sooner. Red Alert presented his fear of the unknown, followed by Inferno recognizing his reluctance to let go of an earlier era, personified in Firestar. 

"I'm glad she's gone," Inferno said, playing with the fingers on Red Alert's hand. "It would be the saddest thing to have never had this."

Red Alert smiled to himself, realizing that whatever penalty he would receive for skipping work today was worth it. "I'm glad to be here."


End file.
